Child asylum seekers arriving in Britain push councils to breaking point
THE number of lone child asylum seekers arriving in the UK rose by a third in the past year, according to new figures.
3,043 unaccompanied child asylum seekers arrived in Britain during 2015
And the resulting strain on social services departments has left some at breaking point.
A study by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, published yesterday, shows that 3,043 unaccompanied children landed here during 2015 seeking refuge – up from fewer than 2,000 in 2014.
Migration experts yesterday warned that the numbers of child refugees entering the EU looked set to rise.
Unicef spokeswoman Sarah Crowe said that, in the first 11 weeks of 2016, 1,156 unaccompanied and separated children had been registered in Greece – where many begin the journey into Europe.
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In the UK, many of the youngsters arriving alone come from countries such as Afghanistan, where they left with no papers or identity documents.
This puts even greater strain on local authorities – especially in Kent, which takes most of the increasing numbers of children arriving in lorries at Dover.
Social services chiefs in the county said that, even with a winter lull, they were receiving up to 15 migrant youngsters a week, meaning they had no option but to place other local children outside the county.
The influx of children is pushing local councils to breaking point
Kent is now caring for 1,382 unaccompanied asylum children, up from 1,060 last June.
The number of under- 18s has increased by almost 50 per cent, from 630 to 926.
Alp Mehmet, of Migration Watch UK, said: “The sharp increase in the number of lone child asylum seekers was bound to follow the massive increase in the overall number.
“But another contributing factor may have been the wide coverage given to the pressure on governments, including our own, to take in such children, encouraging traffickers to exploit a lucrative gap in the system.”
Council chiefs in Kent are receiving up to 15 migrant children a week
A spokesman for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism said: “The numbers raise serious questions, not only for the ability of countries to cope with the influx, but also around the children’s welfare and their uncertain future.”
Of the 17 EU countries that replied to the Bureau’s survey, Sweden registered the most asylum applications by lone children in 2015 – 35,369.
There were 14,439 such applications in Germany, 9,331 in Austria and 8,804 in Hungary. The UK was in ninth place, with 3,043.